I truly love the way God reveals Himself through our past, the struggles we go through, the relationships and conflicts that we have with others, our work, our passion, our lifestyle, our habits...He reveals His character, His plans (bit by bit), His humor, His wholeheartedness in wanting to bring out the best in us, His determination to make sure that we rise up, BUT only if we allow Him to.
He molds us in tests, He helps us to grow in Him by the growing death of self.
In truth, loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength requires the whole of me, not 'No, Lord' when times are bad. If God is truly Lord, do we say no to Him? If we have the choice of saying no, then He definitely is not the Lord of our lives.
Many things I can choose not to do to avoid trouble, conflicts, pain...to be a 'yes' woman to what people say. I can jolly well hide away in my 'christianity' world, naively thinking that I'm leading a 'godly' life, close my mind and heart to all that's happening because hey, I just commune with God. He is God, I'm His princess, full-stop. But I am fully convinced that our lives is not a full-stop when we come to Christ. It is the beginning of many commas, question marks and exclamation marks. Even in heaven, we do not stop worshiping the One who knows it all.
Worship is a lifestyle. If people ask why I always talk about God, that's because He is my life, just like how parents will not stop talking about their children or anything that is top priority in their lives. Nothing to do with talking about God means being holy...You don't become holy by talking about God. You become more like Him by knowing, loving Him and His people and applying what He has taught.
Growing in Christ is very painful. No wonder many do not even want to come close to Him. We have to say no to self to say yes to Him. We used to be the kings and queens of our lives but now we have to say more and more goodbyes to ourselves each time we need to stretch and tear. Tears is the crying out of pain. After the old skin is taken away, the new skin is red but beautiful, swollen but will heal. Just like my scar on my arm. No longer painful but a part of me, a mark of His faithfulness to me, a mark of my growing trust in Him.
In this dying world, we bring life. If that is not our purpose in this life, I don't know why we are here. The easiest way is to opt out and short-change yourself. You will actually go through more unnecessary tests and pain that would have been learnt earlier if you had allowed Him into your life. Either way, pain is inevitable. The difference is the One who heals your pain is the One who loves you before you were born. You are safe in His loving arms rather than your own.
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